


Loose End

by Westbrook



Category: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: Assassination, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-04
Updated: 2013-10-04
Packaged: 2017-12-28 08:46:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/990037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Westbrook/pseuds/Westbrook
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is basically my headcanon of what happened after <i>The Vor Game</i>. I highly doubted that Simon would have simply let Cavilo wander off with a head full of secrets, unscathed. And yeah, the Cetagandans would have caught up with her, but I really liked the idea of Simon taking preemptive action to deal with a threat. Plus, this is a darker side of Simon that we usually see, and you know that he would have had to have run some serious black ops in the service of Barrayar.</p><p>Comments and feedback are always appreciated!</p><p>P.S. I am looking for a beta reader for Vorkosigan Saga. If anyone is interested, please let me know in the comments section.</p><p>Simon Illyan and all other associated characters within the Vorkosigan Saga are rightfully the property of Lois McMaster Bujold, who is a much better writer than I ever shall be. I own nothing, please don't set the lawyers on me!</p></blockquote>





	Loose End

**CASTRO STATION, ESCOBARAN SPACE**

The small, slim figure strode confidently toward the hangar bay where her transport would be waiting. Smugness radiated from every pore, as did a seething anger and menace, not-so-tightly banked. She was given a wide birth. 

Commander Cavilo, recently of Randall's Rangers, paused outside of a door, tapping in the security code. After a brief moment, the door slid open smoothly, revealing the hangar beyond, and the fast transport it contained. The woman quickly moved toward her ship, even now somehow managing to saunter, but as she reached the three-fourths point, she stopped, and cocked her head, sensing something. Her eyes widened, pausing for a moment, before screaming "NO!" and turning to sprint for the door, hand scrabbling at her side to pull a weapon. 

It was far too late though, as four snapping nerve disruptor beams intersected on Cavilo, wreathing her in an electric blue aura, her body seeming to dance for a moment, nerves pulsing in one last, desperate attempt to live, before it collapsed to the floor, occasionally twitching. 

Four men appeared then, one from inside the ship itself, another two descending from the top of the hangar, and the fourth rising from concealment behind a series of crates. All were dressed in black fatigues and tactical helmets covering their faces, armed with nerve disrupters and stunners. They quickly rushed to the body, and ascertained that Cavilo was indeed well and truly deceased-by each firing another nerve disrupter burst at close range. The body lurched and danced grotesquely, a puppet with the strings cut. Mortality, or lack thereof confirmed, the team then set to work. The body was stripped of any identifiers, credits, or useful items, and while two commandos bundled it into a body bag, and placed both on the transport, the other pair began a cleaning of the hangar bay to erase any form of evidence. 

The video flickered off. 

Captain Simon Illyan, Chief of Imperial Security for the Barrayaran Imperium, snapped off the vid function on his comconsole, and for a moment, sat in his office in silence, considering. 

He had eventually gotten the full story of what had occurred in the Hegen Hub out of Miles, and, with some major reluctance, Emperor Gregor. Debriefings of his agents in the field, especially his Dendarii observers, had greatly contributed to the story, and it was clear that the entire plan had been instigated by Commander Cavilo. The idea of the plot came from the Cetagandans, of course, but it was clear, at least to Simon, that Cavilo had been the architect, and was intending to profit from a major action that would disrupt galactic trade and politics. The woman had not only walked away unscathed, but had done so with full knowledge of both Miles Naismith and Miles Vorkosigan's true identity, as well as valuable information about the psyche of the Emperor of Barrayar (Including a rather baroque plot to take the Imperium as Empress, which repulsed Simon on a number of levels), not to mention having made plan to kill both men. 

This was unacceptable. And so Cavilo was dealt with, in the most final matter. 

Simon stared at the disk on his desk for a moment-the combined reports of the commando team, involving the tracking, termination, and cleanup of Cavilo. No one in Escobaran space was looking for her, and it appeared that there was no evidence to point to Barrayar being involved in her death. The operation, from beginning to end, counting cleanup, had taken half of an hour, exceedingly and extremely commendable, but then Simon had placed his best team on this for a reason.  
As for Cavilo's body.....Simon considered for a moment, before beginning to type on his comconsole. The body could be useful, possibly as a decoy for the Cetagandans-perhaps ImpSec could use it as a way to draw some Cetagandan agents out in a certain location, by ensuring that "Commander Cavilo" was found and pursued? Simon would have to sit on this idea for awhile, to see how it could best be initiated-After all, Cavilo wasn't going anywhere. Meanwhile, the team would be debriefed, given a commendation, and told to keep their mouths shut, to put this incident completely out of their minds and never speak of it again. The only copy of the action team's report-aside from the one in Simon's head-would go to Archives, with a notation that it was meant for the eyes of the Chief of Imperial Security only. With the number and levels of security seals and codes, and that notification on it, only the Prime Minister, or an Imperial Auditor-or the Emperor himself, as a direct Request and Require-would be able to access that file. And Simon would see to it that those things would not become necessary. 

Miles Vorkosigan and Gregor Vorbarra had given their Word that Cavilo would be seen out of the Hegen Hub alive and unharmed, and so she was. But long ago, Simon Illyan had come to the realization that the honor of good and great men sometimes depended on the actions of those less honorable. And so ImpSec acted in the dark, for the good of the Empire. A threat, to Simon's subordinate and plans, his liegelord's son and surrogate nephew, and his Emperor's safety and mental well-being, not to mention the whole of the Empire, had existed. Now, it did not, and everyone was a little bit safer.

Illyan finished his report, and sent it on down-an in-house messenger would be in soon to place the disk into an evidence file, to be carefully locked away. Idly reaching up to rub the Horus eyes on his collar, a habitual gesture, the man who guarded three worlds, and the people in them, turned to his console, seeking to find the next threat.

**Author's Note:**

> This is basically my headcanon of what happened after _The Vor Game_. I highly doubted that Simon would have simply let Cavilo wander off with a head full of secrets, unscathed. And yeah, the Cetagandans would have caught up with her, but I really liked the idea of Simon taking preemptive action to deal with a threat. Plus, this is a darker side of Simon that we usually see, and you know that he would have had to have run some serious black ops in the service of Barrayar.
> 
> Comments and feedback are always appreciated!
> 
> P.S. I am looking for a beta reader for Vorkosigan Saga. If anyone is interested, please let me know in the comments section.
> 
> Simon Illyan and all other associated characters within the Vorkosigan Saga are rightfully the property of Lois McMaster Bujold, who is a much better writer than I ever shall be. I own nothing, please don't set the lawyers on me!


End file.
